One of the hotels that caught my eye on yesterday’s IHG Pointbreaks list is QO Hotel Amsterdam at 15,000 points per reward night. This hotel is already off PointBreaks and back to 40,000 points less than 24 hours later.
QO Hotel Amsterdam has 288 rooms with 12 suites in a 21 story new build high-tech design. The new hotel is not clearly associated with any of the existing IHG brands.
Not sure how it would count for my IHG Rewards Club Accelerate task for 38,400 bonus points with stays in three different brands. Will it count as a different brand regardless of where else I stay?
Not central location mitigated by Metro station proximity
In all the time I have spent in Amsterdam over the past 20 years, QO Hotel is in an area south of city center I have never visited. The good news for its location in Amstel Business Park, some 5km south of Amsterdam Centraal Station, is Spaklerweg Metro station is about 3 to 4 minutes walk from the hotel.
Spaklerweg Metro is three stops from Weesperplein, where Hyatt Regecy Amsterdam and InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam are located. Trams from here to Rijksmuseum and Leidseplein are frequent.
Four stops to Waterlooplein for Old Jewish Quarter sites and The Hermitage Museum.
Five stops to Nieuwmarkt for Rembrandt House, De Oude Kerk and Red Light District.
Six stops to Centraal Station for tram transportation anywhere else in central city.
While the thought of a hotel stay in a business park area of the city is not the type of romantic setting found in places like the historic Canal Ring district where the Andaz and Waldorf-Astoria are located, the high tech modern design of the QO Hotel appears to have an appealing element of modernity with convenient transportation options to whisk you into city center efficiently.
The hotel is a 21 story self-described ‘lifestyle’ hotel. Moving panels on the window exteriors respond to outdoor climate to provide insulation on warm days and heat the room with sunlight on cool days with energy savings efficiency.
QO Hotel has a roof top greenhouse for urban farming and raising fish. The 20th floor has a wellness center. Hotel reviews mention city views from the 21st floor bar Juniper & Kin.
One of the interesting articles I read about the hotel is a Dutch language piece through Google translates “The ‘Tesla among the hotels’ is in Amsterdam’.
